According to a press release issued yesterday by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Acting Deputy Administrator of the USAID David Moore, and the Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians of the Government of Hungary, represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. The objective of the MOU is to increase coordination to help communities in the Middle East recover from genocide and persecution by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The MOU with Hungary is part of USAID’s continuing effort to expand its partnerships to help endangered, displaced, and persecuted religious and ethnic minorities return home and restore their communities across the Middle East, particularly in parts of Northern Iraq liberated from the tyranny of ISIS. The MOU is intended to increase cooperation through sharing knowledge, experience, and resources to develop projects in fields that include private-sector growth, housing, service-delivery, conflict-mitigation, religious freedom and other human rights.

In addition to the Government of Hungary, USAID has signed MOUs with the Government of Poland and the Knights of Columbus to coordinate efforts in Northern Iraq and the Middle East. USAID looks forward to working with the Government of Hungary to help advance religious freedom and pluralism.